- THE WEST COUNTRY ,
_ By R. A. J. Wallin -
Devon is crowded with history, and Cornwall crowded with romance, and Devon and 'Cornwall together make 4 the Westeountry—in one word; pace_Mi. -Walling. Other aspirants, like Somerset and Dorset, come -edging in; brit nothing can -be said for their spurious Claims. The West- country- begins a little east of Exeter and ends where Cape Cornwall and Land's End .form the outposts of Whitesancl Bay. Mr. Walling knows every square foot of that varied and enchanting region, and knows too all the writers who have explored it and described it before him—Rowe, and Baring-Gould and Quiller Couch and Crossing and the rest. He need fear comparison with none of them as a chronicler, and his book (Blackie, 7s. 6d.) is a better guide than anything else in print to the two south-western counties. Mr. Walling has every qualification for his task. A Westcountryman himself, he knows the Westeountry through and through, spirit as well as body ; he is full of anecdotes and tells them well, full of quiotations and chooses them wisely, full of anti- quarian knowledge and draws on it with wise moderation. Where ancient legends can claim the benefit of a doubt he gives it them ; where not, he firmly—with whatever regrets —lets in the cold, clear light of truth. He can be convicted of few omissions and fewer errors. T. E. Brown might have been mentioned in connexion with Teignmouth and Edmund Gosse with Torquay, and in the catalogue of the uses to which Princetown Prison has been put its function as a place of detention for conscientious objectors might have figured. As to slips, in what sense can Mr. Galsworthy be said to have " originated " at Manaton ? He certainly was not born there. A word to the publishers. This book is needed—urgently—for the knapsack and the pocket. An edition suitable for that should be provided instanter.
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